if i see takes in about $2.5 billion in profits. that stays in the program. those premiums go toward paying claims for consumers, toward servicing the debt that resulted from hurricane katrina. the private insurance carriers only get an expense reimbursement. they essentially get a stipend from the federal program in order to run that program. they don't really take part. they don't earn premiums and those premiums don't go into their private coffers. they just get an expense reimbursement. so the concept that the right your own companies or that the insurance industry as whole is making a lot of money from the program, it's not accurate.

my members are trusted choice agents. they are doing this, they are selling flood insurance billy as a benefit for consumers, in order to make sure consumers are protected from this dangerous peril. they're not making hand over fist money selling policies. it's just not accurate. host: john prible, because of these hurricanes that we looked at earlier in 2004 and sandy, will those rates go up overall? guest: not as a result of this particular storm. what fema is currently doing and have been for about 10 years, they're undergoing a massive modernization project where they are going across the country using scientific and engineering models to remap. we had a caller earlier who said that the map was old and out of

date. that will not be the case. so there will be changes to flood zones over the coming years if you cannot already had a change. you may have one coming in the next two years. but it will not be the result of a particular storm or particular flooding event. these policies are different than private insurance policies in that regard. for example, if you have an auto insurance policy and get into an accident and make a claim, your insurance premiums going forward may increase because of your history. the national flood insurance program does not quite work that way. in that individual storms or flooding events don't have a direct bearing on your premium. it would only influence the map. if they go in and remap and said the elevation is lower than we anticipated and the sea has

risen a few feet, so the risk is higher. how they determine whether premiums increase or not. host: john prible is vice president of the independent insurance agents and brokers america. he has been our guest. thank you. guest: thank you. host: it's 8:30 a.m. eastern on the east coast. as we have done all week and will do to election day, we will begin to look at the battleground state of virginia today with the university of virginia center for politics director. he will join us from charlottesville. after that, if a member of the virginia house of delegates and a mitt romney co-chair for virginia. and the virginia democratic party chairman brian moran will join us from loudoun county, ground zero for the state of virginia in this presidential election. first, this update from c-span radio. >> its 8:33 a.m. eastern.

an update on new york city following sandy. some of the subways are rolling again. and a train pulled out of penn station three days after the tunnels were flooded. the chairman says 14 of the city's 23 subway lines will be operating today. none of the trains will be going into lower manhattan. it is still dealing with a massive black out. the subways usually carry 5.2 million passengers a day. experts and shoreline advocates a new jersey should consider protection of coastal areas as a massive -- major part of any plan to rebuild areas ruined by hurricane sandy. they say redevelopment plans should include relocating homes and businesses farther from the shoreline, building more seawalls, and keeping sand dunes high. in the aftermath, it's back to the campaign trail for president obama. he is scheduled to appear in wisconsin, nevada, colorado today. mitt romney is scheduled to be in battleground virginia to talk

, which will talk about in a moment. we will cover running at 2:00 p.m. on c-span and the president at 9:00 in colorado. watch here or listen on c-span radio. those are some of the latest headlines. [video clip] >> these are the stories your textbooks left out, great stories about real people in american history, very important moment in american history we don't know about. the first programs in america came to -- came 50 years before the mayflower sailed there there were french and they made wine and had the good sense to land in florida in june if instead of december in massachusetts. but then they were wiped out by the spanish. completely left out of the textbooks. a woman named hanna was taken captive by indians in 1695 and brought to new hampshire. still to come captors in the middle of the night, realized she could get a bounty for scalps of the indians, she went back and did that and made her way to boston, where she was a

heroin and a statue was erected to her, the first statue of an american woman with a hatchet in hand. >> he is our guest on sunday on "in-depth." watch live at noon 2. -- at noon eastern. host: today we put a spotlight on the state of virginia, the commonwealth of virginia. 13 electoral votes in this state. the current unemployment rate, 5.9%. 2008, president obama won the state by over six percentage points, the first time a democrat won the state of virginia since 1964.

joining us from the university of virginia is the director of their politics center. larry, what are the issues being campaigned on in virginia? guest: the same issues as. every as the economy is for most, i suppose. if there's any special flavor into virginia, we cover all 50 states at the center for politics at the university of virginia, if there's any special flavor here, virginia depends on defense to a greater degree in than any other state except for alaska. we are second in per-capita defense expenditures. there's a special flavor on federal spending, because governmental employment is so important, not just in northern virginia, which borders on d.c., but also in hampton roads, the

hampton roads area off virginia beach and the surrounding localities. host: what are the demographics of the state of virginia? guest: as with most larger population states, there are many states in one. you have northern virginia, which is about a third of the state's population, now produces 30% of the vote, if not more. that has a low-debate. that particular population is national and international in scope. it is the highest income region. it has the people with the highest educational levels in the state on average. it tends to be the most democratic region. if you go down to and tidewater, roads, that is a heavy defense industry area. it is both white-collar and blue-collar, also has a large african-american population. and it also has a relatively low nativity rate, that is people

not necessarily born in virginia, due to the influence of the navy. the navy brings lots of people in from across the nation and across the world. the richmond area is an urban area, but it's probably the most conservative urban region in this area and maybe one of the most conservative in the country. of course, is a traditional area, particularly because of the west side of richmond, the city of richmond, the east side is heavily african-american and the west side is predominately white and his conservative with a high nativity rate. some of the surrounding counties have become more diverse over the years, but by and large it is also a conservative suburban ex-urban area. those are three. you may include far south virginia and a world unto itself. it used to be substantially republican, but mountain valley

republican, a more liberal republican flavor intuit. then it went democratic and now it's very conservative republican, in part because coal is such a major part of the economy down there. and there is outside virginia, on the north carolina border, many of those counties are majority african-american, 40% or so. the piedmont, which includes the city of charlottesville, a very mixed region of democratic and republican localities. by and large, you break virginia down into an urban, suburban, ex-urban, rural, which is now under 20%. the most important swing areas are loudoun county, prince william county, northern virginia, probably in chesterfield, richmond, chesapeake, suffolk, virginia

beach, and the tidewater area. host: if you look at the map of voting in 2000 aid and 2004 for the state of virginia, you can see a lot of red, but the president won the state of virginia by six percentage points in 2008, winning the northern virginia area around washington, d.c. and some around charlottesville as well and a couple of the counties in the tidewater region. you can see it is compared with 2004 when george w. bush won the state. you can see that president bush won more of the tidewater region than did john mccain in 2008. if you were president obama and you were mitt romney, where would you focus your resources, larry? guest: you can tell by where they are visiting.

romney spends a lot of time in the richmond area. he needs a big vote out of those localities, some of which voted for president obama. other various conservative localities like chesterfield county went as high as 45% for president obama in 2008. there's no way for republicans to win statewide and allow centreville to get 45% of the votes to obama. they're both campaigning in northern virginia. it is the linchpin of a statewide victory for president obama. he needs to do well in the big, growing burgeoning prince gallia county and loudoun county -- prince george county and loudoun county, as well as fairfax. yes, the two areas are small, but trees and rocks and acres don't vote, at least in most

states and localities. host: what kind of the voting system is used in virginia? guest: the computerized systems are used almost everywhere. we have eliminated paper ballots accept as a backup in case of emergency. we don't have a lever machines anymore, that i grew up with. i am a native virginian. we thought the lever machines were pretty neat, but they are long gone. now you have computerized machines almost everywhere in one form or another. host: some of the demographics of the state, 64.5% white. 19.8% black. hispanic population, 8.2%. the lead story in the wall street about the latino vote nationwide, what about in virginia when it comes to the latino vote? guest: those figures are a

little deceptive, because you are talking about population. in my field, we look at the registered group. we look at those that have a greater propensity. propensity go whites tend to be over 70% of the actual election day turnout. african-americans, it varies. that can be as low as 15% and as high as 20%, as they were in the 2008 presidential election. hispanics are a small slice, but a growing slice in virginia. this is not colorado or nevada or mexico. nonetheless, hispanics in virginia, as in many of the other states, to be very heavily democratic. and so, to the extent they turn out, even if they are only 4% of the statewide votes in any given year, they can assist democrats. let me mention asian americans, because they have become increasingly important in virginia, even though they are a

small percentage of the population and the registered population. in northern virginia in particular, they have become exceptionally active. they give a lot of money to candidates. they are predominantly democratic, although slices of the asian-american population, such as vietnamese americans, will support republicans. it goes to show that in a diverse population, virginia has become tremendously diverse. when i was growing up, the white turnout on election day was about 85% of the total. as i mentioned, it's low 70's today. that makes a giant difference. you can tell it in the election results. even a small slice of the population can have a big impact in a state that is increasingly diverse and increasingly politically competitive. such as virginia and many other states are. host: the director of the center for politics that at the university of the virginia is

with us. if you would like to pop with the professor, we will put the numbers on the screen -- remember, 202 in the area code. you can also contact us via social media. twitter, facebook, and e-mail. larry, what is the center for politics and what do you all cover? guest: expressing. the university of virginia center for politics, which is online, is a disorganization and refocus on citizen participation - is a diversity organization and it focuses on citizen participation. we have a couple million young

people in elementary and secondary schools participating in all 50 states, defense department schools around the world, we tally that up and they go not just for president but on all other local races for senate, house, and governor, and so on. it get them involved and they get a lot of training and head of the election. we have our crystal ball operation of. every thursday morning at 6:00 a.m. we come out with our latest projections and predictions on the elections. last week recalled the house of representatives for the republicans. we believed they will get about the same number of seats they have right now. today at 6:00 a.m. this morning, crystal ball, we call the senate is leaning heavily toward the democrats, we think they will get 52 seats. potentially, we're looking at the status quo election in

congress,. on monday we come out with our final electoral college map in which we protect all 50 states and the district of columbia, which is easy to project. but that should be fun. we have been lucky, if all your years ago we got every state correct and where off by one electoral vote. -- four years ago. we missed on alaska. and i no longer visit omaha as a consequence. host: there's quite a senate race going on, car race between tim kaine and george allen, two former senators. guest: we have called it one of the closest races for the senate but we have tipped it to tim kaine. i relied pretty heavily on not just pulling averages but private tracking that i trust and views of people who have been around this state and its politics for decades. that expert judgment, that

professional judgment, i think it's quite significant. the question is, how could george allen win? he could win if mitt romney, because of may be a bad jobs report tomorrow, picks up a lot of steam over the final weekend and ends up winning virginia, which is currently too close to call. it is one of the closest in 50 states between the presidential candidates. if romney wins by 3 points or so, he could potentially pull george allen to victory, just as i think coattails are playing a big role across the country in a lot of races. we think that elizabeth warren is going to win in massachusetts. she's going to defeat incumbents got down because president obama will get most of the vote. there's a weak candidates in north dakota, a republican, who we think he's going to pull it out because romney will be the winner of 56% and the coattails will pull him across.

the stamping applies in virginia. host: have you called the race for romney or obama in virginia? guest: we will do that on monday. we believe virginia, colorado, wisconsin, iowa, new hampshire, are the ones that are the closest. we based that not just on bowling averages but on very good sources in those states. they hold the key to the election. for those who think romney will carry ohio, maybe they are right, but we don't see it that way. if we have that leaning obama. we shall see on monday whether any of them slip. we are monitoring them on an hourly basis. we are looking to the jobs report on friday. it may be the last piece of new information that could affect the election. host: any fallout or benefit from hurricane sandy for the candidates? guest: i think it's becoming clear that this has been a plus for president obama. how big, we will see.

if you are the incumbents and you're in a tough race, what do you want to do? you want to look presidential. that's a great advantage of incumbency. that is precisely the way he has looked, with the help of his new best friend chris christie. i guess bill clinton will have to step aside. he was the president's new best friend. now it's chris christie. with that bipartisan blessing, the president looks good. for mitt romney, he was pushed off the stage. this storm was a kind of circuit breaker for about three days. momentum, at least according to the romney camp, had been building up for romney. you lose that. politics is not just about the national voter choice. there's a big dial-up emotions included in this. i think the air went out of the balloon to a certain degree for romney during those three days. does he have time to regen?

of course. we are back in the campaign today and will be back at a fever pitch by monday night. look at where the candidates are going. that tells you where the race is really close. they are trying to get that extra point to win. you can do it if you finish up a campaign in a particular states, if the rally is good and everything clicks and you dominate the press in the final 12 hours to 15 hours, you might get an additional point or two out of the few remaining undecided. host: the first call comes from frank in burke, virginia. caller: thank you to c-span. i want to talk about the balance in fairfax county, the most populous county in virginia. we have electronic and paper. they are outdated and they were supposed to have been disposed of five years ago. yet the options of paper or

electronic when you go to vote. they're not just for emergency. guest: sometimes paper is better. i know it's not environmentally sound, but the more i look at the the ballot questions, the more i am always attracted to paper ballots. they are simple. as long as they are carefully guarded -- and that's always a problem in certain areas of the country -- they can be superior to these fancy machines. i salute you for being vigilant. i think people on both sides need to be vigilant. people have to have confidence in the results. although i would also caution people against too many conspiracy theories. i've heard them on the left hand on the right. i guarantee, whatever party loses on tuesday, it will take until wednesday noon for the conspiracy theories to start about how the election was stolen.

we all have a responsibility not to live permanently on the grassy knoll. host: ryan in springfield, tennessee, republican. caller: can you hear me? host: we are listening. caller: the congressional races, there are four of them in virginia. all three of them are republicansi who picked up democrats. i want to hear him talk about those four races. i believe republicans will hold those three but i think frank could in the future go to a democrat, his seat. i think frank connolly will hold on. i wonder if he thinks there will be a couple of upsets in senate races too? shelly berkeley will defeat her opponent in nevada and i think todd akin will be the winner in

his race. host: is this a hobby of yours to follow politics? caller: yes. guest: i'm happy to answer a fellow hobbyists. it becomes your vocation if you let. in virginia, i can simplify the current situation for you. all the incumbents are going to win. they have done a marvelous job working with the state legislature in creating districts that it would be very difficult for them to lose them. so they get my gold star for self-serving artistry. that happens all over the country. so you are not gone to see any change in the virginia delegation this year, i don't believe. they all benefited from redistricting, democrats and republicans alike. as far as frank wolf, he is as secure as you can get. once he retires -- and he's been in there since early 1981 --

that district being located primarily in northern virginia in the more populous counties but also some more rural counties, that could be a competitive district. i think you are right about that. as far as the senate races, we believe dean heller will defeat shelley berkeley. it will be close. the democrats are doing well. we believe president obama will in nevada and the hispanic vote plays a big role. an upset is not unheard of, given these circumstances. i would not rule out berkeley entirely, by any means, but i think dean heller will manage to win a close election because he's the incumbent. as far as missouri, we kept that open for a while. let's be honest, the republicans are apoplectic about todd akin. the republicans managed in their

primary to find the the one candidate who could've lost to claire mccaskill. mitt romney is going to win 55% in missouri this year. i think any respectable republican who did not put both feet in his mouth would have carried that race. we now think claire mccaskill has a lead to a large enough to survive the romney landslide in missouri. also, there is a libertarian on the ballot there. that percentage will surprise you. that's where a lot of republicans who will not support todd akin and will not support claire mccaskill will go, i think. that should enable claire mccaskill to hold received another six years. host: when you look at virginia, what will you be watching on election night? guest: i want to see -- you always want the first votes to come in. and it varies from year to year.

they come in from different places, so you have to know the history of each city and county and even increasing st -- and even the precincts, to know the results. i will look at the critical swing counties in northern virginia, loudoun county and prince william county. i will be looking at chesterfield, richmond, enreico. i want to see if he will get over 40%. if he's in the 30's in chesterfield, that's a bad sign for him. i will look for virginia beach, which is virginia's largest city in population. fairfax is the largest county and the largest locality, but virginia beach is the largest city. it tends to be more conservative and republican because of a large military population and retired veteran population as well. john mccain carried that very narrowly. it was practically a 50-50 with

obama. there's no way it's going to be that close this time. but i want to see what presented president obama gets in virginia beach. if the bows out of the water, that tells me something. if it's a close race, that tells me something. just a few examples. host: washington, d.c., on our independent line. caller: i am interested to know where you think independent voters are going to go in this election. terms ofean just in republican or democrat. how are the third party candidates going to affect the election? in particular, gary johnson? a lot of people tend to think he will take away votes from the republican nominee, but i think in new mexico and michigan he is taking votes away from obama. if you could give me some insight into what you think will happen there.

guest: that is a good question because we tend to oversimplified about ibp and third-party candidates. we need to remember first of all some people turn out to vote for them that would not make a choice between the two major party candidates. maybe they would show up and vote for a member of congress or the local sheriff, i don't know. but it is not as though all of those votes are taken from a major party candidate. that is simply not true. having said that, it is true some votes are taken from major party candidates. if you only have a choice of a democrat or republican, some would make a choice. libertarians in general take a few more votes from republicans than democrats. maybe more than a few votes. it depends on the state and the race and the circumstances. gary johnson, i think, will take more votes from mitt romney than

barack obama but i do not think it will make a difference in any state unless we have three, four, five states that are squeakers and then you get in a situation like 2000 with ralph nader. as far as gary johnson's real impact, let's put it in context. since libertarians have run for president in the modern era, they have only one more than 1% a single time, i think it is 1980 when mr. clark was running against reagan and jimmy carter. otherwise they get about a half a percent or less of the national vote. even ron paul got half a percent, a belief, when he ran in 1988. so we are not talking about a whole lot of votes. so, they could be critical votes in certain states that are very close. we have an independent in virginia, former congressman virgil goode who once represented the area i am in right now, fifth district of virginia. he was a very popular

congressman. he lost a reelection in 2008 in the obama wave by just a tiny number of votes, about 700. it was the closest congressional race in the entire country in 2008. he's got strong support on the north carolina border. he is a very conservative republican. he is running as the constitution candidate because he thinks mitt romney and the republicans are too liberal on immigration and other issues. how many votes will begin? i don't have a clue. he shows up in polls at 1% or 2%, but people tend to respond to polls more favorably to third-party candidates than they act on election day and it is behavior on election day that matters. if virginia turns out to be 10,000 votes between romney and obama and virgil goode its 25,000 votes, you could make the argument he might have cost mitt romney the state. but otherwise i doubt it.

and there is a liberal candidate, jill stein, the green party candidate. i doubt she gets a very much support. >> a few minutes left with our guest larry sabato -- host: a few minutes left for our guests larry sabato. hi, rose. caller: i am so glad to get on to talk with you. i have issues if i could take a little time. it is called the koch brothers issues. there was a national geographic documentary and i am quoting a lot of it, where they were born and raised in russia and they inherited a lot of money and they are actually communists. so all the republican party kind of liens on their side. money is not given away -- some people just give money away or they loan it to you, but if you

are going to give money for a republican to win, to buy a governor or a president, there is something you want back. all of these republicans better take in mind that they could be voting for a communist which is a movement coming into our country. the documentary says -- host: where did you see the documentary? caller: national geographic. from noon until 6:00, and half of it was about the koch brothers. but you saw it on the national geographic jenna? larry sabato, any response? guest: i am just on to say this. i never met the koch brothers and i never -- never corresponded with them. i've got news for you. they are not communists.

i am pretty sure of that. so, let me just correct the record, and i think we should go on. host: how often do voters split tickets in virginia? guest: a very good question. virginia was once the ticket splitting capital of america literally. this was back in the 1970's. we have three elected offices -- governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general. we actually had at the same time and republican governor, independent the tenant governor and democratic attorney general. one of our two u.s. senators was an independent, elected twice. an independent missed winning the governorship by 15,000 votes over a million passed in 1973. we were the ticket splitting

capital of america. we have cents settled back into partisan voting with the rest of america. this is a very polarized era. having said that, when you have close elections you still have a band of voters who will mix and match on the ballot, either because they want to mix and match or they are simply reacting to the individual candidates. in the case of romney and kaine , i have personally been in situations where straw votes were taken among large groups and you generally find you have 3, 4, 5% of the romney boaters picking tim kane for various reasons. some of these romney voters are more moderate republicans and the like tim kane better than his opponent. are there similar voters for obama and george allen? i am sure there are. i never met one of them. but i will say this -- george allen, despite what happened in 2006, he has won from time to time in running for statewide

office 15% of the african- american vote. there would be a case in some precincts where you find some obama-allen voters. it will be interesting to see what the ticket-splitting pattern is. i can clearly see and most observers have come across the same thing, i can clearly see a band of voters who vote for mitt romney who also would for tim kaine. host: finally a tweet -- major force in the republican party. they strongly support people like our current attorney general ken cuccinelli. a major force in the republican party. they could easily dominate any republican convention. we've got a convention picking the republican nominee for governor, lieutenant governor, an attorney general to be held next spring.

you can expect a tea party influence to be high. are they at all influential with the democrats? of course not. do they command majority support in virginia? no. but if you are a major influence in one party it means you can get some of your people nominated to local and state office and thereby in a good year for your party, obtain power. host: larry sabato is the director of the center for politics at the university of virginia. we appreciate your time. guest: it was a lot of fun. we had a good exchange. thank you. host: of conversation on virginia as a battleground continues. this time from louthan county -- loudoun county, outside washington. joining me will be barbara comstock, a state delegate from the house of delegates and code- share of the room for president

campaign, along with brian moran, chair of the virginia democratic party. as we continue our look at va after this update from c-span radio. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> weekly unemployment numbers show applications dropped by 9000 to a seasonally adjusted 363,000 last week. that is a level consistent with a modest hiring. the private report comes out just a day before the october jobs data. the last economic report before the election. meanwhile, the labor department says productivity increased at a modest 1.9% annual rate from july-september, matching the april-june rate. labor costs fell at the 0.1% after having risen 0.17% second quarter. productivity is the amount of output per hour of work. with tears reports in new york

state is asking the u.s. federal government is paying all the cost of cleaning up and repairing damage from hurricane sandy. governor andrew cuomo says he is asking president obama to take 100% of the estimated $6 billion bill, at a time the state and local government budgets make -- remain constrained by the weak economic recovery. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> i have watched shows on the weekends when they interview politicians and they are talking about what they are doing in congress and different legislation and there different opinions. >> most recently i watched the debate, because i was in front of my computer because i was still at work. i knew it would be on c-span. >> i like it because it drove down to be important issues and it is not antagonistic or hostile and it does not seem to have an axe to grind or an agenda they are trying to push like some other cable tv shows. >> i agree, too, it seems fair.

like you get the real story and there is not a commentary and things that are negative. >> i go there to get the news, the facts, and to get more details than just headlines in and talking points. i want to learn something and not just be entertained. >> it is not as exciting as cnn or fox, but you did the real story and i like it. >> darrow and merrill lynch watch c-span on comcast -- daryl and mary lynch watch c- span on comcast. offered as a public service by your cable provider. >> "washington journal" continues. host: back live in leesburg, virginia, in loudoun county about an hour west of washington, d.c., and as larry sabato mentioned, a swing county in the state.

and joining us inside the courthouse to discuss the commonwealth of virginia's role in the election is state delegate barbara comstock, whose districts includes the county and serves as co-share of their romney for virginia campaign and we have brian moran, chairman of va's democratic party. delegates comstock -- delegate comstock, why is loudoun such a swing county? guest: it has a lot of commuters, professionals, and two-earner families, and people this year very concerned about the increased taxes that we would see come jaber reversed if president obama were to be reelected, as well as the peace -- deep defense cuts of us would impact our area dramatically.

george mason's stephen fuller, one of the preeminent economists in the area says the defense cuts could actually cause a recession in virginia and would almost double our unemployment numbers. and va has been very successful in having a low unemployment rate, down 5.7%. but people are very concerned about jobs. jobs are the number one priority and that is what we see people looking at and that is why we are encouraging the numbers and support we are seeing for governor romney this year. host: does your candidate have to win loudoun county to win virginia? have to,don't know we i expect we will. it was only a narrow margin that president obama won loudoun, the last time and it really was an aberration. virginia republicans have been winning loudoun county in 2009 when governor bob mcdonnell won this area, and then in 2010, of

course our congressman frank wolfe, he is extremely popular here. he is of course on the ticket this year. he always wins resoundingly. in 2011, we swept all of the state and local seats here in loudoun county. this year we are seeing strong support for governor romney because his message has been focused on jobs as the number one priority, much like our governor mcdonnell. in the state legislature we want to have a partner in washington who will work with us on the top priority and will work of -- with us to keep virginia's economy strong and national defence strong, because it is certainly were a lot of our jobs come from, as well as protecting our national security -- where a lot of the high-tech industry is coming from. so, it is very important we keep

being -- the low taxes that we have and keep the 21st century economy going and governor romney is the kind of partner we can continue this good practice with. host: bryan ran, chairman of the virginia democratic party. -- brian moran, chairman of the virginia democratic party. president obama won in 2008. what is your strategy to repeat? guest: i agree with much of barbour said in terms of virginia. but governor tim kaine running for senator and president obama brought a lot of of the prosperity to virginia. when they talk about less government and tax cuts, this is what it looks like. it looks like enormous cuts to defense spending. you can't have it both ways. they don't want to have any revenues to balance the books and what substantial cuts to government spending, that is what looks like in the

commonwealth of virginia. when you make the draconian cuts if you will end up with thousands of lost jobs. they estimate 200,000 jobs just in the defense industry. we may agree on the issues but we certainly disagree on how to get there. in terms of loudoun county, it is turnout. frankly, it is turn out all over the commonwealth of virginia. i say that because in 2008 we had 75% turnout in virginia. three out of four voted. it is terrific. we want that type of turnout, democrats, republicans, and independents to engage in democracy. here in loudoun, it was over 75% turnout. over 70 percent -- 77% to thousand eight and barack obama received 54% of the vote. what it means to us as we are doing everything we can to get out the vote. we have five days left. we're working on it for weeks, if not months.

we have tremendous resources in virginia, a terrific ground game. we are working the early absentee voting aspect of this as well. so, it is turnout both here and loudoun and the rest of the commonwealth. i think we have a superior ground game, a superior candidate, and consequently we will again when on november 6 and help re-elect the president of the ninth of state and re- elect governor tim kaine as yanez state senator. host: in "the washington post" is this article -- ground game has gone into hyperdrive in virginia. guest: the democrats in virginia and obama campaign has been doing this for months. they decided early to contest virginia. in fact, the president's campaign was criticized last spring for spending so much money friends end on the

campaign -- front-end of the campaign. i think it was the right expenditure. we are just inundated right now, saturated by television ads. but that is an air warw. ars our won on the ground and that those where the obama campaign is a. . i traveled all across virginia, whether southwest or in swing county loudoun -- we have officers, offices, volunteers, every weekend we have a lot of the enthusiasm on the ground. people door knocking and making the phone calls necessary to get the vote out on november 6. so, i am confident we will prevail on november 6 because of the superior ground game and the volunteers turning out. we have the right message, the right candidate and we have the volunteers to support the candidacy. host: barbara comstock? guest: the ground game i'd describe it sounds more like the

2008 obama campaign than this year. 2008, republicans actually would not very competitive. we did not have the resources that we needed because at that point, virginia had not been a swing state. this year we have over 30 offices, we have been very active. mark warner, the democratic senator, remarked when he drove around the state he was not seeing the enthusiasm he saw four years ago and he is seeing romney signs all over the place. when you drive throughout loudoun, a lot of the signs actually i down after the storm, but prior to the storm you would really see an overwhelming number of romney signs here. and also in my part of the district, fairfax county, which even goes inside the beltway, there was just an overwhelming number of romney signs. we hear all the time people -- democrats, idds who say they voted for barack obama four

years ago and are not voting for him now -- democrat, independents. they understand what our ground zero for barack obama's tax increasest. axmaggedon -- tax increases. taxmaggedon will be here. most of our high-tech community, their businesses are under 50 employees. start of the businesses were people literally do start them in their basement. they will be hit by these tax increases because the tax increases -- about two-thirds of them hit small businesses. then you go to those defense cuts where, as we see in bob woodward's book, the defense cuts and the sequestration idea was the president's idea. he wanted cuts that would disproportionately hit our defense industry.

that is not only an irresponsible thing on the national security from, something like a senator john warner -- protecting our national security and armed forces, he would never allow those kinds of cuts and certainly strongly opposes them. our entire delegation has been working against those, but get the president says we have to tax your high-tech businesses and your defense contractors who are a lot of small contractors and small businesses, or we will take this ax to the defense industry. we do not need to do that. it is unsafe in the dangerous world we live in. we know we need to have both a strong economy and a strong defense industry, and that is what mitt romney has been talking strongly about and why we are hearing such a good response. in the same way george allen, who has been our senator, and worked side-by-side with senator john warner for years, you would probably see george allen be on the armed services committee and

we would have the reputation here in virginia because he would go in with security, having served before, and his colleagues would want him in the position to have the expertise that he has from learning to work with john warner. he would be a great partner for mitt romney protecting virginia's interest as well as our national security and also working with us to get this economy kicked into gear. virginia have been number one for jobs because we have not increased taxes. that is a record mitt romney had when he was governor. brian and i are both from massachusetts. democrat family originally. massachusetts, 87% democrat legislature governor romney had and he reached across the iowa and came up with a bipartisan solutions and was able to cut spending -- he reached across the aisle, camel with bipartisan

solutions and was able to cut spending without harming critical -- host: delegate comstock, we need to get to calls as well. this is "richmond times- dispatch" -- lead story. obama-romney tide of virginia. it shows the president up a few points. but if you go to real clear politics and look at the average, mr. romney is up by half a point. mitt romney will be in virginia today live on c-span. brian moran, when you expect your candidate to return to the state? guest: he will be hero -- be here saturday and he has been here over and over. prince william, loudoun. coming again to prince william saturday night. which is nice. it is a spillover from being a

battleground state. we have all the candidates coming in on a regular basis so fellow virginians get to see and hear from the candidates. of course, we have to put up with all of the television ads as well. but it is fun to have all the candidates in and it is important for virginians to hear from him. the president is working diligently to make sure the communities struck by sandy in new jersey and new york, working in a bipartisan way with governor chris christie from new jersey in surveying the damage. that is where government works, fema, a program governor romney called for eliminating during the republican debate -- guest: not all, absolutely false. -- governor romney said that -- he talked about not funding in -- guest: governor romney said that, talk about not funding it.

only government has the opportunity to provide those services certainly in an emergency like this. fema has to respond immediately. you saw the first responders -- police, fire, the municipal services that have to respond so quickly and so well. our hearts and thoughts go out to those affected communities and the president is responding quickly. he will get back on to the campaign trail on saturday in the commonwealth. let's go back to a lot of what barbour had to say in her presentation. 2008, the reason loudoun county went for barack obama was because they were responding to the bush presidency. during the bush presidency he took eight surplus from a year 2000 with -- took a surplus from the year 2000 and turned it into deficit by imposing the bush tax cuts that were temporary, including millionaires. what governor romney is proposing -- let's return to

those policies, the eight years of george bush. and continue to give tax breaks to the wealthy. loudoun responded in 2008. also when president obama took office in january of 2009, we were losing over 700,000 jobs a month. 700,000 jobs a month we were losing when george bush left office and president barack obama came into office. we will hear tomorrow the new jobs report, we are creating over 100,000 jobs. 5.2 million new jobs during this barack obama president's see, under 8% unemployment rate -- during this barack obama presidency. 32 months of the private sector job growth. you compare that to where we were when bush left office and the president took office.

that is a remarkable improvement. that is the pathway to recovery , and president obama has been leading that. this is no time to change course and go back to -- we don't know what we will be getting with governor romney. he was governor of massachusetts. rounding achievement was mandatory health care for everyone -- his crowning achievement. what president's day will we get from former governor romney? -- what presidency will we get? host: we will stop there. you both made your campaign statements. now we will turn it over to viewers, and if you can keep your answers a little shorter so we can get as many in. our two guests had been gracious enough to join us from the leesburg, virginia, loudoun county courthouse. about an hour outside of washington. robert in columbia, south carolina, on the democrats' line

here you are first. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span, america -- good morning, ladies and gentlemen. president obama has been studying all aspects of the job and now the country is poised for progress. now mitt romney wants to be president so badly he is foaming at the mouth and saying anything at any time trying to hoodwink the voters. he missed his chance to beat mccain, then he would have made -- had time to make the tough decisions obama has made. now that the obama administration has made the tough decisions, now mr. romney was to take credit and hoodwink the voters. he had a fair chance to win in

2008 and then he could decide to implement policies as far as foreign policy, health care, jobs. host: we will get a response from barbara comstock, who is one of the chairs of the romney for virginia campaign. guest: i would just quote joe biden -- the middle class has been buried over the past four years. they have been buried because this president's economic policies failed. the president said when he came in his trillion dollars stimulus would get unemployment well under where it is now. he said that he was going to cut the debt that was $10 trillion in half, down to $5 trillion. now it is $16 children. he failed by a factor of three times what he said he was going to do. his health care bill, a huge government monstrosity, not something done at the state level, would end up costing us $2,500 more in premiums when he said it was going to be less --

that it would be $2,500 less. the president himself said if he did not get this done, if he did not turn this economy around in three years it would be a one- term proposition. i agree with him, and that is why we are looking to mitt romney -- i was talking before about how romney cut the budget in massachusetts. on a bipartisan basis with 87% legislature and that the same time he cut taxes 19 times. do get -- to get massachusetts democrats to cut taxes, you have to come in with good policies which governor romney understand as a business person and understands as somebody who was at the olympics and had to turn around the deficit and make the turnaround less than four years. when he went into the olympics, he had less than three years to turn it around and take the scandal that plagued mess. he did it and no salary.

he was both governor and worked at the olympics and never took a salary. he believed in public service. he did it for the olympics to great national acclaim, he has done it with a business, and he did it flew taxachusettes. if he can do it with the democrats taken do it with congress. host: this one is for you, brian moran. maria on the republican line. caller: i just wanted to ask a question. i am a mother of four. i lived in loudoun county. i have lived here 10 years. i work for a small business. i don't see what mr. obama has done in the last four years to help me. the business i work for is not hiring. they don't know what to do with obamacare. this is a company that was built from nothing and they are paralyzed. my kids -- i pay more for gas. you talk about loudoun in 2008,

and it was not about the bush tax cuts. i have lived here for 10 years. it was people's visceral reaction to the war. i have not seen anything from mr. obama in the last four years. my husband lost his job and all of my neighbors tied to the defense industry are so nervous that they are going to be next. i do not know how you can say mr. obama has done anything for loudoun county. host: let's get an answer from the chairman of the democratic party. guest: thank you for the question during the war that people were concerned about in 2008 has been ended. it was president obama who brought the termination of the war in iraq, and withdrawing troops from afghanistan and now prepared for nation-building here at home rather than afghanistan and iraq. that war has been brought to an end by the president. in terms of locally, the

president -- the fact of the matter is, as a said earlier, 700,000 jobs a month, over 700,000 jobs a month we were losing at the termination of the bush presidency. we are working our way back. this is a fiscal ditching that was deep. that is why it is no time to turn to the same policies that got us into it in the first place. that is why the president is talking about small businesses -- the payroll tax cut. he also saved the auto industry versus governor romney who said let it go bankrupt. hundreds of thousands of jobs associated with the auto industry in america. 5.2 million new jobs. 32 straight months of private sector job growth. now, those defense cuts, here in virginia it is a very important local issue. who is going to get out of some

of the tax cut -- i mean, defense cuts. let's remember how we got there. it was the republican congress who said we are not going to raise the debt limit, and that is why this came to be. they were not going to raise the debt limit. which every economist in the country said it would put us and an economic spiral. we have to raise the debt limit. they negotiated back and forth and ended up with these defense cuts. but that was not the president's idea and not the democratic congress/;' idea. when you hear the republican party and particularly governor romney saying we will cut -- and his vice president, paul ryan, less government, more cuts. what does it mean? it means the very cuts we are looking at now in defense. 200,000 jobs in virginia. let's examine the entire picture and not just listen to those ads that somehow are letting the

defense cutbacks at governor tim kaine who was not an office or the present. this is because the republican obstructionist congress saw political opportunity and said we are not going to raise heavy debt ceiling. how irresponsible? host: let's go to the next call. kentucky on the independent line. debbie per. please, go ahead. caller: i am calling because of all of this -- what he did, the damage in new jersey. that is just for him to get help. he has not done nothing for us for the last four years. that president did nothing but put us all and the poor house. my husband is a welder and he lost his job and got another job, lower pay, and we are about

to lose our home and everything because of obama. to voteon't know who for, but it sure will not beat obama. host: that was debbie in kentucky. chairman moran, calling from kentucky and south west virginia is a different animal than a lot of parts of virginia. what is your message to south west virginia? guest: the same message as i talk to voters here in northern virginia. we cannot return to the same economic policies that got us into this fiscal ditch in the first place and that is what governor romney is proposing. again, 5.2 million new jobs, 32 straight months of private sector job growth. 7.8% unemployment.

south west virginia -- education is important. guest: coal is important -- guest: taking down on how often i am interrupted. health care -- 1.2 million medicare recipients here in virginia now have eight additional years on medicare with extended medicare for another eight years. a healthy system. 63,000 young virginians have access to health care up to the age of 26. seniors now have access to preventive health care services, which is far cheaper treating it up front and an emergency room. we extended what governor romney did in massachusetts and did it nationwide and virginians have experienced improved health care and access because of that. education -- the president has been working on higher education higherpell grant access.

-- higher education, grant access. a young woman told me i am not a democrat or republican, but i am supporting president obama because i am attending a local community college on a pell grant and president obama who doubled the size of pell grants so all of americans have access to higher education. if you look at the unemployment rate, if you have a bachelor's degree, 4%, associate's degree, about 6%. but if all you have is a high- school diploma, it is double digits. the president understands it. he is investing in higher education through excess of pell grants so all americans have access to grow -- better skill and be able to compete. host: what is your candidate's message to southwest virginia? guest: south west virginia understands that they have been buried by this administration because of their policies on coal.

this administration, this party has just been extremely hostile. they have killed the coal industry. one promise barack obama cap -- he said if you want to start a new coal plant, you will go bankrupt. we lost 1200 johnsburg recently -- 1200 jobs recently. it is not just a problem for south west virginia c coal is part of where we get our energy and a lecture city. it provides affordable energy here in loudoun county where we have data centers. i passed a bill to give a better tax treatment to data centers to come in here and grow them through what virginia and here in loudoun county. we recently had new companies coming in and do this, but they depend on low-cost, affordable

energy. and this administration is driving the cost of energy up and driving people out of work. those people who lost those 1200 jobs at good, high-paying jobs. they had health care. they were able to pay for retirement, help their kids go to school. now they have lost their jobs and this administration is absolutely opposed to this industry in a way -- you have not seen barack obama go down to that area. mr. romney has been down there, paul ryan. they have gotten a huge, strong response. in 2010, rick boucher who have been there for years, was beaten by the republican candidate, morgan griffith, who was the majority leader of the house of delegates. very strong support in southwest virginia because they understand governor romney has a plan for energy. host: we will have to leave the answer there. we appreciate your time. barbara comstock one of the co-

chairs of the romney for virginia campaign and primary and is chairman of the virginia democratic party. pat is on our democrats' line. caller: i worked for $12 an hour under bush, under carter -- under clinton. i worked for $12 an hour. under bush, people working for 7-something an hour. bush destroyed the country. then he turned around and put us in two wars and turned around and try to blame it on obama and the democratic -- i am disabled now and i watch a lot of c-span. and if you watch congress, republican congress is destructive and they have brought the country to its knees. host: barbara comstock, if you

would answer that along with this tweet -- true? guest: no, look what governor romney wants to do is much like what we did a virginia bank. we are the number one state for jobs because we worked on a partisan -- bipartisan basis like governor romney did it. he has a record of working on a bipartisan basis whereas barack obama has actually failed on being bipartisan. and governor romney again will be bipartisan on things like offshore drilling which are other good, high-paying jobs in virginia that mark warner supports. you will be able to have a president romney work with mark warner and george allen on a bipartisan basis to open up offshore drilling which he said he would do saidday one. those are not minimum-wage jobs.

they are health care. you can get pensions. it could bring millions, even billions and against the capital of east coast for energy which governor mcdonnell wants to do. we want to partner with the legislature -- it supports it on a bipartisan basis as well as congressional leadership. but unfortunately barack obama and the democrat leadership and his party in virginia opposes the good common sense of sure drilling policies which mark warner, george alley -- george allen support. guest: why didn't you run for reelection in massachusetts? they can run for reelection. why is he losing by double digits, i think 15% in massachusetts? i have heard several times what a fine job he did in massachusetts. the singular achievement he had with respect to mandatory health care, the president adopted

nationally and a nail president obama -- president obama adopted it nationally as part of his affordable care act and governor romney ran away from it as soon as he started running for president. he is losing massachusetts overwhelming need. he chose not to run for reelection. guest: at you never wanted to be a lifetime politician -- i know it is a typical politician response. but he also has done a lot of things in the private sector. he did not feel he needed to run again. host: we will leave the discussion and move on to mike on the independent line. our guests are barbara comstock and and brian moran. caller: i am a strong democrat

area and the last six to eight months, everything associated with the coal mines, we have had doubts of the people laid off. how do you think this will affect the presidential election? a commercial came out on tv with -- how he supported the power plant to be built. everyone in this area knows mr. kaine did not want the power plant built. host: brian moran. i have been de -- guest: i have been their numerous times and governor kaine approve the permitting for the coal power plant in southwest virginia. i think that is what the caller was referencing. specifically it was itkaine who permitted it. -- specifically it was governor kaine who committed it.

it is a hybrid. i think it is the innovative approach of including coal as part of a broad energy position which is what president obama has done as well. really reaching in terms of this issue. governor kaine supported it and i was with him in front of coal miners. if you support coal, you should support miners. the republican party eradicated the benefits in terms of the spouses of coal miners who have passed away because of the dangerous work. black lung disease. if you are going to embrace coal you have to embrace the coal miners who work so hard to make sure it is a usable resource. this is a two-part position and the democrats have stood up for them. and i hope those miners will

join a supporting the democratic candidate. host: our guests are in leesburg, virginia bank, and the next call comes from john from vermont on the republican line. caller: greetings from the socialist paradise of a vermont where we republicans are an endangered species. just a quick comment to governor romney -- have the same problem we have in vermont. we have an out of control democratic majority in the house and the senate. so, the governor is powerless to do anything. and now we have a democrat for governor. to hang that on romney is misdirected. my question is for the lovely lady there -- rahm emanuel said never let a good thing like a hurricane go to waste. i was wondering how the virginia republican party

manages to counter the great photo op the president had. and vermont had hurricane irene last year and our governor, a democrat, made lots of money on that one. i would not want to predict the next election. but how does the virginia republican party plan to counter that? host: barbara comstock? guest: we were hit with a hurricane here, too, particularly hard in northern virginia, lost power for several days. our hearts and our prayers go out to new jersey and new york. we are all working together on a bipartisan basis. use of governor romney working to get red cross relief -- you saw governor romney. i think this is something where the country all unites together. i would like to address, having been down to the mines myself

also and knowing how strong george allen and governor romney have been in support of what is going on down there and all the jobs that have been lost, everybody knows that the democratic party has just been anti-coal. when brian ran himself for governor he attacked by a coal industry and there were all sorts of battles in the democratic primary to see who was the most anti-kohl. we need coal as part of our all of the above strategy. we need offshore drilling. we need all of these good, high- paying energy jobs and on day one, governor romney will let the offshore drilling go forward and take these regulations that have been crushing the coal industry, the middle class that has been buried in southwest virginia been very -- southwest virginia. they know exactly what joe biden has been talking about with the

middle class being buried because they have been one of the top zip codes buried by the administration -- the epa regulationsb. rian -- epa regulations. brian has a knowledge of the industry has been good at improving things and working well but this president has been one of the most anti-coal present. that is why you see joe manchin, a democrat from west virginia attack in the present. people from all why it. host: thank you for that, barbara comstock. brian moran, on election night what will you be watching for? loudoun county? guest: loudoun county, prince william county, virginia beach, hampton roads, henrico county outside of richmond. we will get a good indication of those communities and the turnout. it will be at an exciting time

here in virginia. we certainly enjoying the position of being a battleground state. it is turnout. virginia voters are very informed voters. they look at the policies of both of these candidates. and we expected to be close. we made history in 2008, the first time in 44 years it helped support -- we helped support a democrat to the white house. i think we would do it again because we have the right message, the right policies. we are getting out of the fiscal ditch. host: barbara comstock, where would you be watching? guest: i will be working for the next six days, because if you come election day i will be working through 7:00 p.m., both loudoun county of fairfax county, watching closely. i have already been looking at the absentee ballot polls and getting a great response here in loudoun and my part of fairfax

county. i feel very good about that . about thatbrian -- i think brian is right. we will go looking at the number -- numbers. if you see where obama has run up the score last time, we have had a very aggressive absentee voting record. absentee voting in person is still allowed and we extended the hours because of the storm. you can still vote from 12:00 until 8:00 in fairfax and in loudoun until 8:00, and this saturday will be the last day for absentee in person voting. we want everyone to get out and vote and uncovered their friends. we just need a small number of people really to turn it are wrong. if you want jobs to be your number one priority, a strong economy and a strong defense we need to have for our country and to have va's jobs be vibrant, governor romney is someone who has worked on a bipartisan

basis. george allen has the same record. host: we will get to the senate race in a minute but we will hear from wanda in a north carolina on the democrats' line. barbara comstock and brian moran of the best. caller: i was calling. in 2008 when president obama got in there, we were in trouble for the eight years president bush was there. i have seen a lot of changes in my life. i had children in college and they all succeeded. and when president obama did do the thing for the colleges, my daughter had came out without a whole lot of unnecessary -- having to pay back that money to her scholarship.

my other daughter is still paying way over the amount and they are still suffering from that. i already voted. i did early voting. be arguing back and forth about democrat and republican and whenever. because all of us will go to one heaven or one hell and there should be togetherness. all the negative ads, it does hurt the independent voters and the one out here trying to vote because it is nothing nice. it is just mean. today, i just thank you for giving me a chance to share. last monday i lost my home -- it is not even about that because i know god will take care of it. but with everything going on -- president obama came into office. i have for people disrespecting him like that because he is the president -- he did come into

office, he said he could not get it done in four years. and everybody knew that. but the gas prices are not as high. host: we will have to live there. i am so sorry. brian moran and ann barbara comstock, you each have one minute. guest: let me address the senate race. it was governor tim kaine -- we can only run one term in virginia, and we were the best manage state in the country, the best state to do business and the best state for child's lifetime success. those were third-party balladeers the said that. he was a tremendous governor -- those were third-party validate rs who said that. we do have to come together as

americans. we have big challenges ahead. governor kaine can do that as the next u.s. senator and president obama has demonstrated. you have seen him with governor chris christie working together. people want to see democrats and republicans coming together to face the challenges. we have the best nation in the world. we need to maintain the status. we are the best nation, we are great americans. and i want to make sure we continue on this path. because we have been down that road. tax cuts for the very wealthy while the rest of us have to -- where is the fair share? >> i apologize, your minute is up. barbara comstock, one minute. host: thank you very much for allowing me to be here. guest: i wanted to adjust the senate race -- tim kaine was all -- was also the person who wanted the gas tax, which even brian moran opposed, he united

people it is the gas tax and also left us with a $4 billion deficit. when i came into office, governor mcdonnell closed the deficit without raising taxes. we rejected kaine's tax increase rejected 97-0 of the house of delegates and rejected his drastic cuts to northern virginia schools of $120 million. we reopen that the rest stops that he closed. government donald open them. -- governor mcdonnell opened them. and the billion dollars in transportation we went back to work force. george allen has a reputation for balancing budgets. he did not as governor ever tried to raise taxes. he was a leader in congress not taxing the internet. the internet is such a big part of virginia business and allowing it to thrive has been great and it is a great part of george allen's legacy. looking forward to having

someone in there who would be a champion for our defense industry, a champion for our tech industry and able to cut budgets carefully without increasing taxes and being a partner for mr. romney who did it in massachusetts. if he could do it in massachusetts, he could do it anywhere. host: one of the co-chairs for romney for virginia campaign and brian moran is the chairman of the democratic party in virginia. mr. moran, i wanted to be an opportunity to adjust this article. the attorney general cuccinelli is to probe -- your brother'sson anything to say regarding an effort -- unity? you got i was a prosecutor for several years and we consulted a lot of people. it was very unfortunate but it was not critical -- ,. we would welcome the investigation. he humored someone. it was very unfortunate.

he learned a very valuable lesson but in a very public and embarrassing fashion. but he will recover. he is a good kid. this does make a stronger and builds character you cannot leave your guard down and these types of situations right now. it is unfortunate but he is going to recover and we will move forward. host:brian moran and barbara comstock, this has been c-span's look at the battleground state of virginia bank. and we have been live from the loudoun county courthouse and leesburg, virginia. thank you all for being with us. live campaign at all that long, go to c-span.org if you want to get the full schedule. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]